14 



COMMERCIAL FISHERIES REVIEW 



Vol. 28, No. 10 



their largest single domestic use. The com- 

 mittee, called the Paint Club, will explore the 

 application of several different fish oils in 

 manufacturing alkyd resins. The resins then 

 will be used as vehicles to formulate differ- 

 ent paints --which will be tested and evaluated 

 against a standard acceptable to the paint in- 

 dustry. 



Methyl esters of menhaden, hake, herring, 

 and albacore oils have been prepared for fatty 

 acid analysis by gas chromatography. The 

 data, and other routine analyses pertinent to 

 paint, will be given the Paint Club. The re- 

 searchers are trying to relate fish oil quality 

 to formulation of the paint. The industry pe- 

 riodically suffers serious losses when, for 

 no apparent reason, a particular lot of fish 

 oil fails during paint manufacture. If the 

 problem can be related to quality by lot anal- 

 ysis, the paint industry would accept fish oil 

 much more readily. *" 



Study Container for 

 Air Shipping Fresh Fish 



Scientists of the Gloucester Technological 

 Laboratory met with officials of Trans World 

 and United airlines to discuss problems in 

 air shipping fishery products and the potenti- 

 al value to the fresh fish industry of expand- 

 ing air shipments. Both airlines have pro- 

 moted this in areas where salt water fish 

 previously were unavailable and report good 

 market possibilities. More promotion may 

 be necessary, particularly in the far Midwest. 



Both airlines have tried to develop a con- 

 tainer system for fresh fillets without very 

 satisfactory results. BCF can help here. It 

 has already given them data on the thermal 

 performance of insulated containers packed 

 with gel refrigerant and the effects of tem- 

 perature upon quality. A complication in the 



container system design is that fillet tins 

 leak. Although this is intolerable for air 

 freight, the New England industry has not yet 

 adopted a substitute --the flexible polyethylene 

 bags used in the Northwest. 



United has offered to make its facilities 

 available to the Gloucester staff at no cost to 

 conduct any project work involving air ship- 

 ping. 



Interest Rate on Fishery Loans 

 Raised to 6 Percent 



The Department of the Interior raised the • 

 interest rate on fishery loans from 5 2 per- 

 cent to 6 percent effective October 1, 1966. 

 Secretary Stewart L. Udall said the increase 

 was required by law to make the rate at least 

 equal to the average market yield on other 

 public loans of comparable maturity. 



Director Donald L. McKernan said the 

 loan program was established by a section of 

 the Fish and Wildlife Act of 1956, which au- 

 thorizes the Secretary of the Interior to make 

 loans for financing and refinancing operations 

 of commercial fishing vessels and their gear. 



Another provision of the loan fund legisla- 

 tion states that the purchaser of a new vessel 

 must not cause economic injury to efficient 

 vessel operators working in the area where 

 the new vessel will be used. 



Director McKernan said the loan program 

 has filled the credit gap for fishermen. It 

 has insured continued operation of their ves- 

 sels and it is helping to upgrade and modern- 

 ize the commercial fishing fleet of the United 

 States. 



